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Module 2 – Purposive Communication

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MODULE 2:
COMMUNICATION AND GLOBALIZATION

Intended Learning Outcome:

 Explain how cultural and global issues affect communication.
 Appreciate the impact of communication on society and the world.

Educational objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to be able to:
1. Describe the implications of globalization on communication;
2. Explain the notion of World Englishes in the context of English being a global language; and
3. Use standard English and bias-free language in writing.

PRE TEST

When do you often use English as a language? Are you comfortable using it as your
second language? Share your thoughts freely.
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CONTENT

 Word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and
populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of
investment, people, and information.
 Globalization directly affects global communication and helps increase business
opportunities, remove cultural barriers, and develop a global village.
 Globalization and global communication have changed the world’s environmental, cultural, political,
and economic elements.

WORLD ENGLISHES

 It is now a more widely accepted fact that many World Englishes, sometimes referred to as “varieties
of English,” are used globally.
 All are equal in the sense that each is best suited to the communication needs of its speakers.
However, not all are equal in prestige. Some varieties are more prestigious than others because of
social attitudes about the speakers of these varieties.
 The two most well-known varieties of English are those of the colonial superpowers: British English
and American English.

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 In writing, the idea is to adhere to the Standard English of one’s country because each variety,
including those of the United States and the United Kingdom, has its own peculiar or individual
features, which include differences in spelling, punctuations, favored words, and expressions,
grammatical constructions, etc.

 The following table gives an example of some of these differences between American English and
British English.

AMERICAN ENGLISH BRITISH ENGLISH

ASPECT
(U.S.) (U.K.)
She said, “I’ll be at work She said, “I’ll be at work
Punctuation
by 8 a.m.” by 8 a.m.
Date March 2, 2017 2 March 2017
center, color, organize, centre, colour, organize,
Spelling
program programme
Words elevator, pants, diaper lift, trousers, nappy
ruffled feathers Knickers in a twist
Expression/Local Idiom
(agitated) (agitated)
Grammar Do you have that book? Have you got that book?
Pronunciation Vase /vãs/ - sounds like Vase /va:z] – sounds
(irrelevant in writing) VEYZ like VAHZ

 Thus, two English speakers – one from the U.S. and the other from the U.K. – may become confused
when encountering the other’s unfamiliar accent and word choices in a conversation and seeing
different spelling and punctuation conventions in writing.

OTHER ENGLISH LANGUAGE DIALECTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Philippine English
 Philippine English, as well, has its unique and distinctive usages.
 For example, “comfort room” is a Philippine term for “washroom,” “toilet,” or “lavatory.”
 When Filipinos say, “There’s traffic,” they mean “There’s heavy traffic.”
 The word “salvage” in the Philippine context can mean either “to save” or “to brutally murder,
usually for political reasons.”
 Matthew Sutherland, who writes about Philippine English from an Englishman’s perspective, talks
about the expression “for a while,” which he says baffles foreigners because the expression does
not exist outside of the Philippines. The U.K.’s equivalent, he says, is “just a second” or “just a
moment” (quoted in Aguilar, 2004).
 Similarly, Sutherland notes that “for a while” is frequently used in the Philippines on the telephone,
whereas in the U.K., the more typical expression would be “hold on” or “hang on” (quoted in
Aguilar, 2004). Notably, he mentions that these British idiomatic equivalents would be just as baffling
to those unfamiliar with these usages. Filipinos might, in response to being told to “hang on,” may
very well ask, “Hang on to what?”

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Australian English
 It began to diverge from British English after the founding of the Colony of New South Wales in 1788
and was recognized as being different from British English by 1820.
 It arose from the intermingling of early settlers from many mutually intelligible dialectal regions of
the British Isles and quickly developed into a distinct variety of English.

Canadian English
 It is the product of five waves of immigration and settlement over more than two centuries.
 The first large wave of permanent English-speaking settlement in Canada, and linguistically the
most important, was the influx of loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, chiefly from the Mid-
Atlantic States – as such, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington
D.C., Virginia, and West Virginia.
 Canadian English is believed by some scholars to have derived from northern American English.

Indian English
 English public instruction began in India in the 1830s during the rule of the East India Company
(India was then, and is today, one of the most linguistically diverse regions in the world).
 In 1835, English replaced Persian as the official language of the company.
 Lord Macaulay played a significant role in introducing English and western concepts to education in
India. He supported the replacement of Persian by English as the official language, English as the
medium of instruction in all schools, and the training of English-speaking Indians as teachers.

Ugandan English
 Ugandan English has developed a strong local flavor with similar dialects spoken elsewhere. The
speech patterns of Ugandan languages strongly influence spoken English.
 Uganda has a large variety of indigenous languages, and someone familiar with Uganda can readily
identify the native language of a person speaking English.
 Ugandan speakers will alter foreign words to make them sound more euphonic.

ASSESSMENT TASKS:

ACTIVITY 1:
A YouTube video by Filipino-Canadian, Mikey Bustos, illustrates the uniqueness of what he calls
“Pinoy English.” Watch the video in the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqlFT8zT8V8
Then, answer the following questions below.

DISCUSSION:
1. What Pinoy English expressions from this video are familiar to you? Enumerate.
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2. In what instances have you used them? Recall these situations.

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3. Comment on the main point of Bustos’s video about how we have different ways of using English
based on our texts.
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ACTIVITY 2
Why do you think it is important to study and differentiate the characteristics of Philippine
English when compared to other varieties of the English language used in other countries
around the world? What do you think are its implications to the communication using the
English language among Filipinos?

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Module 2 – Purposive Communication